About Travel

Are you travelling to San Francisco soon?
Have you ever seen the movie Escape from Alcatraz?
On

a recent trip for a business
convention,

I went to a cocktail party at a novel
location - the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary.

Perched atop a lonely rock in the middle of
San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz was a military prison from 1868 to 1933
and became a Federal prison from 1934 to 1963. It was intended to
be a prison within the prison system.

Difficult inmates from jails across the
nation were sent there when they became too hard to handle. Al
Capone was an infamous resident - he spent four and a half years
there. The "Birdman of Alcatraz," Robert Stroud, known for his
avian studies and nasty personality, spent 17 years on the
rock.

It was finally closed in 1963 by Robert
Kennedy due to escalating upkeep costs, and it is now a museum run
by the National Parks Service. It still needs a serious makeover,
but it looks just as it did in the Clint Eastwood movie Escape
from Alcatraz. One can almost see the famous actor in his
cell, painstakingly gouging away at a tunnel with a stolen
spoon.

Because of its proximity to the mainland,
Alcatraz was a prison that continually taunted its inmates with
sounds of what they were missing. Apparently if the wind was in the
right direction, incarcerated super-felons were treated to the
sounds of New Year's Eve revelers at the San Francisco Yacht Club.
They could hear laughing, singing and maybe even champagne corks
popping. It was a

constant reminder of the freedom they had
willingly traded.

My experience started with a 10-minute ferry
ride from Fisherman's Wharf at dusk on a dismal, rainy evening. As
our party approached the dock on Alcatraz Island, we saw a flurry
of seagulls crowed around what appeared to be a small grey rock
protruding from the water's surface.

A rock? No, we were told, it was a dead
rotting whale, and the seagulls were greedy carrion birds,
furiously pecking away at the whale's thick blubber. An ominous
sign and a stark contrast with what we had seen earlier in the
day.

We had visited the picturesque Napa Valley
with its row after row of burgeoning grapevines, thriving roses,
and cellars laden with fine wines. In torrential rain, we ran up
the long winding pathway to enter the drab prison. A bloody
handprint rests inexplicably just above the entrance.

There is an official tour - Walkman headsets
are doled out and morbidly fascinated tourists (and cocktail party
guests) wander around the cells in outward silence.

Surprisingly small (it usually held about
260 prisoners), there is a library, a barber shop, the cell blocks,
and solitary confinement cells. One lucky inmate spent 13 years in
there. Yellow institutional lighting cast an unnerving hue. The
tape, in the background, allows visitors to hear the bars rattling,
prisoners shouting to each other, and guards pacing up and down the
gun gallery, poised to shoot at a moment's notice.

After the tour was a party held in the
dining hall, a brilliant and unforgettable location. Elaborate
flower arrangements and lavish chef stations looked incongruous.
Crisp white linens and gentle candlelight must have been a far cry
from the denim uniforms and neon intensity of Alcatraz in its
heyday.

The highlight of the evening was a
presentation from a former inmate and a former guard, who have now
teamed up as best friends, written books, and devoted their
retirement years to turning around the lives of juvenile
delinquents.

The avuncular ex-guard, Frank Heaney, was
stationed at Alcatraz for three years. The prisoner, now 77 years
old, was incarcerated for 25 years in total (not all of them at
Alcatraz). A former bank robber, he looked like an aging hippie -
long grey ponytail, grimy baseball cap, denim clothing with plenty
of embroidery. He pleaded character reformation and admitted he had
deserved his 25 years.

He said that while he valued his now-deep
friendship with the ex-guard, he confessed that 50 years ago, he
probably would have slit his throat. This evoked a hearty laugh
from the spellbound audience. Some guests at the front, however,
took an ever-so-slight step backwards.

We left on the ferry, still in the pouring
rain, and headed towards the twinkling lights of San Francisco.
Even the caterers packed up in record time. No-one wanted to miss
the last boat.

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In recent weeks, Long Hill Township and Watchung Borough passed ordinances allowing their police departments to be able to apply for surplus equipment from the Department of Defense. Long Hill recently procured a Humvee to use in times of flooding, which Watchung states as the reason they are getting into the program. However, in cities around the country, police forces have used the program to obtain military gear, such as weapons and armor.
For more background, go to the link below
http://www.newjerseyhills.com/echoes-sentinel/news/watchung-police-department-hopes-to-receive-equipment-from-department-of/article_12ad002a-92b3-5449-a2cc-4b2cf0ce4339.html